Obama Blocked Rebel Arms

White House Opposed Pentagon, CIA, State Plan to Ship Weapons to Syrian Resistance

By

Adam Entous

Updated Feb. 12, 2013 12:11 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—A proposal to arm Syrian rebels was backed by the Pentagon, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, but the White House decided not to act on the plan.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed publicly for the first time at a Senate hearing on Thursday that they supported the proposal last year by senior officials including then-Secretary...